Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri cultivar Cebemma.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Rhipsalidopsis plant, botanically known as Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Cebemmaxe2x80x99.
The new Rhipsalidopsis is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Odense, Denmark. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact Rhipsalidopsis with good postproduction longevity.
The new Rhipsalidopsis originated from a cross-pollination in April, 1995, of two proprietary seedling selections of Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri, not patented. The new Rhipsalidopsis was discovered and selected as a single plant from the resulting progeny of the cross-pollination by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Odense, Denmark, in March, 1998.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by cuttings taken at Odense, Denmark, since May, 1998, has shown that the unique features of this new Rhipsalidopsis are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Cebemma have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and/or light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Cebemmaxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Cebemmaxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact, upright and outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Freely branching growth habit.
3. Freely flowering with white-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Rhipsalidopsis differ from plants of the parent selections primarily in flower color as plants of the parent selections have pale pink-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Rhipsalidopsis can be compared to plants of the cultivar Auriga, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Odense, Denmark, plants of the new Rhipsalidopsis differed primarily from plants of the cultivar Auriga in flower color as plants of the cultivar Auriga had orange red-colored flowers.